Hi all. I just got back from service at the dealer and was told that they were going to replace the ac belt and alternator belt under warranty. They went ahead and replaced the ac belt because it was in stock but said I would have to come back for the alternator belt replacement as it was not in stock. My warranty is about to expire as I have 49200 on the odometer.

When is belt replacement necessary and where is this information on what needs to be changed and when? I would think at 49200 miles you would not need to change any belts, and thus I think another trip to the dealer may not be necessary.

Thoughts?

Also, I noticed that I had uneven wear on my tires and asked them to take a look at it. It turns out the back left tire had steel belts showing on the inside of the tire. I thought the alignment the dealer had performed back in May of this year may have caused the premature wearing of this tire (the rest of the tires looked ok without belts showing). The dealer graciously put the car on the machine and came back with the results I have posted as a pic below and told me that the specs are "spot on". After looking at this sheet more closely, the specs do not look "spot on" to me. Can anyone with more alignment knowledge than myself comment on my alignment specs? Thanks...

 

If it s a official BMW dealer I would trust them on their judgement. However, the belts should be OK with this mileage and years the car has run. Question for me would be whether BMW does not take a major part of the cost as it is unusual early. That's what they do in Germany. It is not a warranty but usual BMW is quite generous i.e. they changed my windshield after 3 years for free because it made noise.

 

The SA told me straight up that he is trying to get me as much warranty as possible. They get paid by BMW NA for whatever they can get away with and thus the more business for them, the better. I just would rather the dealer not touch the car unless necessary. Every time they do something to the car, it seems like some little blemish appears somewhere on the car. Like this last time, it looks like they put a small pock indentation into the front bumper right where the mechanic would be leaning over the engine to change an ac belt. I can't prove it and i'm not going to complain, but i'm sure you see what I mean.

Can anybody comment on the alignment?

 

Well I would not worry about it. A new alternator belt is not very expensive so if it truly is not broken I wouldnt fix it in this case.

I can vouch for you at cringing on taking my car in. Every single time it has been in they took my wheels off to look at brakes. the first 2 times they did not even fix the problem yet EVERY dang time my wheels would have many new tar/scuff marks or flat out chips out of it-that would not come out with special remover or anything but you cannot really complain and the car is a lease so I do not care all that much.

Last time I took it in for an oil change I got it back and 2 days later someone was telling me on the road my hood was open-while I knew I just closed it-well turns out when I closed it normally, one side would not latch and stay part way open-almost looks like the hood got bent somehow from a freakin oil change! I managed to press the side down to latch it in and when it is latched in it looks fine but I believe it is slightly bent-again hard to take back a week after noticing it and blame them and go through a huge process-unless it is something huge and not fixable by yourself then I just let it go.

But overally dont let them touch it unless necessary!

 

If they do it under warranty, let them do it. They know what to do, and new stuff is allways good to have.

They are not changing it for NO reason.

 

can anyone comment on my alignment specs shown in the pic on the first post?

 

belts are usually replaced after 60,000 miles so I'm a little surprised they changed it when you only have 49,200 miles. but then again I don't know what the technician saw but I will say better safe than sorry. Personally experienced the belt snap in my lexus and it's a big pain. car won't even move if the belt snaps. It's just a small job but it's something many people forget about after they drive their car 60,000+ miles